Deaconess Community Consecrations

May 4, 2007

Sister Joy Meyer will be consecrated at Paradise Lutheran Church, 3241 Church Road, in Thomasville, PA on May 4th at 7:00 pm. She has accepted a call to serve as Chaplain at Shrewsbury Lutheran Retirement Village in Shrewsbury, PA.

Sister Amy Lindquist will be consecrated at St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church, 2323 Como Avenue, in St. Paul, MN on May 6th at 7:00 pm. She has accepted a call to serve as Program Director for Chinese Hospitality Center in St. Paul, MN.

She relates, “I found the Deaconess Community after college and thought that I could plug into the church and find good niches of service by joining the community. I think being a deaconess has given me opportunities for service and to be a part of something greater than myself.”

Consecration is the Church’s rite which entrusts to a Deaconess an office of public ministry and service.

Deaconesses are women who are trained in their chosen profession as well as in theology and are consecrated by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Canada to serve God around the globe. Deaconesses serve in many ways – as teachers, counselors, administrators, health professionals, Christian educators, youth workers, information specialists, ecumenists, and more. They serve in congregations, synod offices, hospitals, social service agencies, outdoor ministries, caring institutions, universities, and more. Deaconesses, along with other diaconal ministries, are the church outside the church and, often times, are the church’s face in society.

The Deaconess Community currently has 76 Deaconesses ranging in age from 27 to 91 who serve as far away as Jerusalem. The Community first began in 1884 and continues to reach out to people in need and to lift up the needs of the world to the church. Their ministries guide the church to care for people who would be forgotten. Compelled by the love of Christ and sustained by community, Deaconesses devote their lives to proclaiming the Gospel through ministries of mercy and servant leadership.
 

If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with a representative from the Deaconess Community, please call Laura Ley at 773-380-1704 or email Laura at laura.ley@elca.org.